Vassar's Powerhouse Theater this summer

Henry Krieger and John Patrick Shanley's musical, starring Idina Menzel and Mark Linn-Baker; a new Stephen Belber play starring Logan Marshall-Green; and a Pete Townshend rock opera will be part of the summer lineup for the Powerhouse Theater. The 23rd season for the New York Stage & Film company located on the campus of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, has announced its mainstage productions, concert readings, workshops and more.

The Powerhouse season — featuring 16 different theatrical events, spanning June 22-July 29 — follows:

Mainstage productions - (Powerhouse Theater)

Stephen Belber's Geometry of Fire (June 27-July 8)
Lucie Tiberghien directs Logan Marshall-Green (King Lear, "The O.C.") in the production, which centers on an encounter between a returning-from-war Marine sniper and a Saudi American trying to find why his father died.

• Romantic Poetry: A Musical Play (July 18-29)
  Shanley (book and lyrics, director) and Krieger (music) team on this new collective of plays on love. William Evans, Ivan Hernandez, Mark Linn-Baker, Chris McGarry, Idina Menzel and Patina Miller star.

Concert readings (Martel Theater)

• R-E-S-P-E-C-T (June 29 & 30)
  Stephen Fischer pens a story about rival high schools in the Tennessee town during the sixties — using the music of East Memphis Music artists like Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, and Sam & Dave. Oz Scott directs.

• The Boy Who Heard Music (July 13 & 14)
  Ethan Silverman directs and adapts this new rock opera that finds an old rock star telling the story of a diverse teen band's rise and fall. Story, music and lyrics by Pete Townshend.

Workshops (Susan Stein Shiva Theater)

• Marcus Gardley's Dance of the Holy Ghost (July 13-15)
  Leah C. Gardiner directs Dance, which centers on a bitter jazz musician who comes to terms with "the three generations of family that he's laid to waste, and to the one great love of his life."

• Betsy Howie's Callie's Tally (July 20-22)
  Loy Arcenas directs the play about three generations of women learning about love and what it costs.

Readings festivals - (Susan Stein Shiva Theater, free)

Festival 1 - (June 22-24)

• Substitution by Anton Dudley

• Higher by Carey Perloff

• Human Voices by Sarah Treem

• Grasping the Sparrow's Tail by Enid Zentelis

Festival 2 - (July 27-29)

• The Escape Artists Children by Steven Harper

• The Wendy Play by Amy Herzog

• Crippled Sisters by Susan Nussbaum

• The Alarm by Frank Pugliese

• American Hwangap by Lloyd Suh

Online ticket sales begin May 15 and the Powerhouse box office, 124 Raymond Avenue in Poughkeepsie, NY, opens June 6. For further information, visit powerhouse.vassar.edu.